The Corner Booth

I've been Living With Diabetes for 27 years, after being diagnosed in 1984 at age five. My mother has been Living With Diabetes for 53 years, after being diagnosed in 1958 at the same young age. We both have certificates and medals "awarding" us for these milestones. Many friends in the Diabetes Online Community and Beyond have been living with diabetes for just as long, even longer, and can be considered "veterans" in many respects. Many mark their own yearly "dia-versaries" that celebrate the specific number of years they've gotten through. On a broader scale, we have had some recent media coverage about those People With Diabetes who have lived for long - including one man who has reached the 85-year mark and could be one of the first to hit that mark. Others who've achieved the 50-year mark and are participating at in the Joslin Medalist Study recently gathered at the Boston-facility to celebrate their long D-Lives. And Kerri'...

Yes, that's pump tubing on my head... Don't ask. Our Shadow Cat is almost nine years old.  She came into our lives about seven years ago, in the summer of 2004 that was our first year living in Indiana after moving here from southeast Michigan. A copy editor friend at the paper I worked for at the time found her on the side of the road one night, scared after an apparent near-miss by a passing car. Her front paws were scraped, but she was OK. An email went out at work about anyone wanting to adopt a cat, and despite not being "cat people" or ever owning a pet before, we opted to bring her home. She was already being called "Shadow" because of her gray coat and "sneakiness in following you around like your shadow," so the name stuck. We found a vet and learned the estimate was she was about 2 at the time. We moved from that apartment to our first house about a month after our wedding in September 2005, and after some initial investigation she ...

At some point, is it possible to look in the mirror and see a snake oil salesman or Halle Berry staring back? You know, someone doing more harm to the diabetes community than good? That thought horries me. But it's how I feel at the moment, and regrettably it's something I have brought on myself. My evil twin came out to play, and I'm feeling the consequences of that. Much has been written and discussed recently about a diatribe article with JDRF CEO Jeffrey Brewer, focusing on the organization’s focus and direction. Discussion on that article began online and some passionate parents of Children With Diabetes voiced their thoughts and views on the article and overall topic. Some expressed frustration with the direction while others didn’t. The Adult Type 1 community joined into the discussion, and unfortunately the conversation soon dwindled into a name-calling slug-fest onine between some CWD Parents and the Adult Type 1 community. Here's the thing. I disagreed wit...

Families crowded the room, moving everywhere around me. Even as the polar bears and Barbies and dinosaurs all stole the attention that I was trying to focus on the task at hand. It was afterall, a monumental job. Then, a tug at my shirt-sleeve brought my gaze down in front of me. "I feel Low. I think I need to test," Little Shirt Sleeve Tugging Girl said. Her inquisitive eyes stared up at me, expecting that the adult in front of her - the one who was a Type 1 diabetic just like her - would have an answer, a blood meter, some candy to boost her if needed. But my callouused-fingertips seemed to find only unprepared ineffectiveness to clutch on to. In the blink of an eye, as quick as a heartbeat, my 26 years of experience Living With Diabetes went out the window. None of that mattered. At that moment, all that mattered was this girl in front of me who was relying on me to help her. It broke my heart, and scared the hell out of me. This was th...

His eyes tear up. His voice wavers, his face emotional as pictures of his daughter and her future fiance flash on a large screen at the front of the room. That emotion is only so brief, before the man's composure returns and he returns to talking about his mission that wouldn't exist without that daughter. Another man stands in the same room that day, sharing stories and talking about his own experiences with his teenage daughter. His eyes tell their own story, one that clearly shows he simply wants his girl to have the chance to live a full and productive life, to grow up and be happy like the first man's daughter who now has a promise ring to be engaged. Standing on a beach with a sunset in the background, the embodiment of happiness and perfection that makes the heart melt with joy. Both men share a passion for their children. But their bond goes deeper, in that each daughter is a Type 1 diabetic. That's why these two me...

Differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics is an issue that can divide and draw emotional reactions from many of us Living wth the D. For example, this was the focus of a marathon Tweet session with Shannon earlier this week, leading to her awesome and insightful post at LADA-dee-da , and a similar TuDiabetes discussion in the past day or so. I have my own thoughts on this topic that largely stem from the misconceptions spewed by the general public and media about how "diabetes" all appears to be the same disease of lazy, fat people and if you have it then it's somehow your fault. I take great offense to this: maybe it goes back to the situations as a child when people would say to my mom, upon hearing that she and I were diabetic, that "Oh, well you should have fed him better and he wouldn't have gotten it." While the D-Community really needs no reminder that no definate causes have been found for either, even though some can link certain lifestyle...

I'm steaming mad after reading a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.. Here it is . Basically, this 15-year-old kid is trying to take care of his diabetes and have the best results possible. Great. Good for him. Apparently, he has some issue with higher morning spikes in the morning post-breakfast and uses his gym class days (which fall on 2 of the 6 school days) to help keep them down. Great. Good job on that. However, on those NON-gym days, rather than ADJUSTING his own routine or schedules to accomodate reading class, he would rather skip those basic skills' courses and have his own gym class, since he's diabetic. His parents are battling the school district, which has bent over backwards to accomodate this kid but doesn't see the merit in singling him out and offering him his own gym class, while everyone else is in reading class. UPDATE FROM NOVEMBER 2009: School district caves and allows this nonsense . These whiners need to be schooled. It's called adju...

We often hear from people in the D-community about praying for a cure. We have hope that someday, God will provide men with the science and resources they need to discover a cure. But here's a story out of Wisconsin that takes that prayer to a different level. Parents who basically refused to take take their 11-year-old daughter in for diabetes care, and instead prayed that she would be healed without any medical help. Last month, they received six months in jail for letting her die and not seeking medical care. As it turns out, a story about his case aired on the D-Life show a few hours after I'd written this blog. Here's the video page , which also mentions another case about a California teenager who died from undiagnosed diabetes after his father and family declined to get medical care because of their faith. This reminds me of the Schmidt case out of Franklin, Ind. that I covered a few years ago, when reporting for a daily county newspaper there. Here's one story ...